People who expect a quick and painless end to the Duke University lacrosse team scandal are likely the same folks who expected a speedy finish to the Monica Lewinsky mess. Prosecutors are still mulling charges in the Duke case. The team's season is history. And the future "brand name" of Duke as a university is on the line.
Expect "closure" sometime in 2008.
The problem in sorting out the Duke debacle is the Gordian knot of issues. There is the "he said" and "she said" testimony conflict, of course; but that has been laced with concerns about rich and poor, black and white and them and us. Add to that the three favorite topics of the gossip mill — sex, money and violence — and you have a news story that will not die.
Still, some things are on the record. A group of privileged white kids hired a blue-collar black mother to entertain them with sex games. Racist remarks were shouted. Ugly e-mails were sent. Coaches were fired. All that already has kindled a fire for reform at the school.
Other facts are in evidence. Male DNA samples were not present on the person of the woman. The woman's past behavior raises questions about her credibility. In short, the boys should be presumed innocent of rape until shown otherwise. But they are not innocent of loutish behavior and showing a startling lack of moral decency.
In the end, the incident shows — once again — that no segment of society is immune from base behavior. Americans gate their communities, hand-pick their children's schools, monitor their friends and try to wall their families away from debauchery. But it still slinks in, like snakes into Eden. Behavior is a personal — not a community — virtue. When a "mob mentality" arises, when enticements and seductions are offered up, good behavior comes down to a personal choice. Society may be at fault for not stepping in sooner to curb abuses. But when it comes to accountability, "the situation made me do" won't wash. Irresponsibility will always be between a human being and his or her conscience. And that — by all reports — is a concept the boys on the Duke lacrosse squad still seem unable to grasp.